Regenerative power system.



G. Y. BONUS.

REGENERATING POWER SYSTEM.

APPLlcATloN FILED JULY 20. |911.

1 ,297,069. Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- G. Y. BONUS.

REGENERATING POWER SYSTEM.

APPLICAUON FiLED1uLY2o,1917.

1,297,069. 'Patented Mm. 11,1919'.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 1 gawd/7550001, Vfl/7 G. Y. BONUS.

REGENERATING POWER SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED .IULY 420| i917.

Patented Mar. 11,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

n To all whom t may concern: ,f

ATET

'- GEORGE YL Bonus, or cincAGQiLLI-NoIs.

REGENEATIVE POWER SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Man 11a 1919 Application led July 20, 191.7. Serial No. 181,732.

Be it known that I, GEORGE Y. ONUs,

citizen of the United States, residing at.V

Chicago, Illinois, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements` in Regenerative Power Systems; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and'exact description of the invention, such aswill en- Y, able others skilled in thel art to which it' appertains to make and usethe same.,

Y My invention relates to fuel-utilizing and, power generating apparatus, and,A when viewed in its most general aspects, aims to provide a' series of coperating and inter-` related means for utilizingthe energy stored s in fuel more effectively than has heretofore been customa and for saving valuable b products which have hitherto wasted in lconnection with such apparatus, Forl these gen eral purposes, my invention aims to provide a cooperating aggregation yof elements having various novel features 1n themselves and.

' advantage in other connections than in the particularcombination here described. These objects are: to provide a simple and highly efficient digestion for vmanufacturing water gas from coal and steam` and; one which will leave yfnitrogenous rgases and the like available as valuable'by-products; to utilize the exhaust steam from an engine for which the live steam is generated with the water gas asfuel, as one element in the manufacture ofv the water gas,cand to utilize the heat of the flue of the boiler vforwarming the ydigestergto use a superheater disposed in the samevrboilerfwhichV r'aisesfthe steam for the engine, for providing the high temperature., steah needed for making the water gas; to combine water evaporating and steam regenerating units ina single and simpleboiler construction, and to luse the former unit for replenishing the supply of steam used from the other unit inthe manufacture of the water gas; to utilize the exhausty steam from the vboiler supply pump jointlyewith the exhaust steam fromthe high-pressure cylinder of the engine for ac tlating'the piston in the lowepressnre' cylind der of the engine; to utilize the exhaust steam of the engine for preheating the air supplied for thegrates of both the digester (or water gas manufacturing part Aof the plant) and the steam boiler; to regenerate a part of the exhaust steam of theengine byY successively boosting its pressure and thereafter boosting its temperature, and to icondense another portion of the exhaust steam by the cooling water from the pressure booster so as to secure the water supply for the water evaporating or moisture replenishing portion of the boiler; to utilize part of the heat of the fine gases from the boiler for reheating some of the steam supplied to the digester; and to provide simple means for enablingsteam to be raised in the said water evaporating portion of the boiler independent of the steam regenerating portion of the latter, for starting the system in operation. Still other objects will appear from the following' specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which drawings, Figure 1 is a partially diagrammatic vertical section of apparatus embodying my system as a whole, as installed in -a two story plant. (It is to be noted however, that while it has seemed advantageous to illustrate the apparatus as arranged on two flcers and as spread out laterally so that the elements will not conceal Yeach other, I do not Wish to be limited to these or other details of theI construction or arrangement herein disclosed, it being obvious thatV the same might be varied in many respects with out depart-ing from the spirit of my invention.)

Figs. 2 and are enlarged views corresponding respectively to the left hand and right hand -portions of the semi-diagrammatic vertical section of Fig.' l.

In effectingthe purposes of my invention, I start with a suitable fuel,'sueh as coal, fed into a bunker l, in which bunker the coal is dried and to some extent warmed by chimney gases entering from a branch 2 of the chimney 3, each of the latter being controlled by dampers 4 and 5v as indicated in the drawings. From the bunker l, the coal is admitted as needed into a hopper 6 at the top of the digester, and is kept from ignition in the upper part of the digester by a water jacket 7. Steam at a relatively high temperature (say 1500o F.) Ais fed into from a' superheater 9 desirably located close other it will also be obvious that they can easily be grouped compactly, thereby reducing the lengths of the pipe and iue connections. Consequently, I am able to practically eliminate the intermediate losses in temperature or pressure, and by thus utilizing the various heating and cooling effects as above described, I am able to obtain an unusually high output of engine power from a given quantity of coal even when the latter is of a relatively low grade. However, many of the novel features herein disclosed may also be used advantageously in plants employing only a part of the apparatusabove described as cooperating, or in plants in which other elements are substituted for part of what I have described and pictured in this illustrative embodiment. Hence I do not Wish to be limited to this particular combination, particularly since local conditions may often make alterations or modifeations desirable as to one or more of the novel features here disclosed, which variations might easily be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

l. The combination with a steam-driven prime mover, of means for successively cooling the exhaust to a point above its condensing temperature, mechanically raising the pressure of the cooled exhaust, reheating the exhaust, and resupplying the same to the prime mover; a steam generator associated with the reheating means for maintaining the desired moisture content, and single means for heating the steam generator and supplying the thermal units for reheating the exhaust, in combination with a water gas producer for supplying fuel to the said single means; the exhaust-cooling means including an air supply for the gas producer and a water supply for the said steam generator.

2. In combination, means for using part of a supply of steam expansively and noncondensingly and for using another part thereof expansively and condensingly; successively operating means for cooling the non-condensingly used exhaust, raising the pressure of the said exhaust, and reheating the pressure-raised exhaust to the tempera! ture of the initial steam supply; means for evaporating water to produce steam corresponding to that which was used condensingly, and a water supply arranged for affording the said cooling and thereafter supplying' water to the said evaporating means.

3. In combination, a producer for generating water-gas, a steam boiler heated by the burning of said gas, a common air supply for both the boiler and the producer, a power appliance utilizing steam from the boiler expansively, a condenser for the exhaust steam, and means associated with the condenser for utilizing a part of the heat of the exhaust steam in warming the said air supply.

4. In a power unit, a lower drum, a pair of upper drums connected thereto by tubes, a steam inlet for the rst of the upper drums, means connecting the second upper drum with an engine or the like, mechanical means interposed between the exhaust of the engine and the said inlet for raising the pressure of the exhaust and forcing the latter through the said drums and tubes, and means for heating the pressure-raised exhaust during its passage through the drums and tubes to a temperature corresponding substantially to its pressure.

5. A power unit as per claim 4, in combination with means for supplying fresh steam to the first named drum to replenish losses in the s stem.

Signed at hicagoJuly 16th, 1917.

GEORGE Y. BONUS.

Witness:

G. Y. BONUS, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

